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This month included a rare sighting at the provincial legislature in Victoria: politicians doing their jobs and actually debating in that underused public building. After Premier Christy Clark cancelled the fall session, the legislature is briefly convening before the Liberals, NDP, and Greens head out on the campaign trail for the election in May. The…
On a recent visit to Desert Hot Springs (DHS), CA, in the Coachella Valley, not far from the well-known Palm Springs, we discovered Cabot Yerxa’s Pueblo Museum. It’s a museum that also functioned as Yerxa’s home. It was built in the Hopi-Pueblo style to honour Indian people. You can see the Hopi Kachina designs portrayed…
I have been in Vancouver for a year and a half or so. I grew up in Shanghai, the biggest city and financial centre in China. After twenty-two years living there, I made the biggest decision of my life. With the support of my family, I came to Canada to study at UBC’s School of…
This past weekend people from coast to coast braved the cold to hold vigils and rallies in response to the horrific massacre carried out by a white supremacist at a mosque in Quebec City. More than 40 cities and towns across Canada held actions to mourn and to stand in solidarity with our Muslim brothers…
This picture says it all – a chaotic situation generating no end of frustration for many drivers. Even the hold-up being on a bus is not pleasant. This $58 million upgrade is set to finish sometime in the fall of 2017. So what’s it all about. First a bit of history: the Burrard Bridge opened…
I still remember that one of my favourite childhood toys was a kaleidoscope. It is a tube that contains loose fragments of coloured glass that produce, through an interaction of light and mirrors, symmetrical and geometric patterns, which vary with each rotation. The whole image consists of segments reflected in mirrors. If we compare Vancouver’s…
What a difference one New York Times article can make. In this remote northwest outpost known as British Columbia, sometimes it still takes some attention from national or international media to shake up the political status quo. For many years, civil society watchdogs and concerned citizens have drawn attention to the dominance of big money…
Located on Burrard near Robson, this was the 2016 site of the closed clothing store Le Château. Unfortunately, this is a very typical scene in Vancouver with people sleeping in doorways, and no one taking any particular notice. Not that people don’t care – it’s just the problem has become overwhelmingly common. It’s part of…
My first months as a newbie in Vancouver were spent trying to establish myself, find a job and a suitable longer-term home. And just like any excited tourist, I was imbibing all that the land had to offer. The backdrop of the North Shore Mountains beyond the Burrard Inlet is always panoramic. And if you…
In just a few days, Donald Trump will be sworn in as the President of the United States. It’s really happening. Feelings of anxiety, despair, and disbelief are hard to shake. As the northern neighbour of a declining empire now led by an erratic and uncouth bully, what can we do in face of this…
Here we have the image of Carrie Fisher, as the famous Princess Leia in the original Star Wars film first presented in 1977. The image is displayed on today’s state of the art Telus building in downtown Vancouver, in some ways as futuristic as some structures seen in Star Wars. It’s an image that brings…
In the early 80s when I was five years old, my parents brought my younger sister and me to live in Vancouver. Our family stayed for four years while my parents started a business before moving back to Hong Kong. Back then, occupied with priorities such as my first trick-or-treat outing and building my first…
When it comes to politics, 2016 has been a nightmare. This year’s winter holidays – ostensibly a time for family and friends, rest and recharging – will be celebrated under the long shadow of the reality that Donald Trump, barring some Hail Mary intervention, will be sworn in as President of the United States on…
